You’re most likely asking yourself what is fasted cardio and is it something I should be doing? A great deal of health & fitness professionals will say it’s most definitely something to do when beginning your fitness journey.
- Why fasted cardio works
When you get up in the morning, your body remains in a fasted state after 6 to 8 hours of sleep. This means you’ve actually absorbed all your food and your body is now ready to burn fat for fuel. Working out on an empty stomach will allow the body to tap into its fat stores for fuel due to the low glycogen levels. This is what makes fasted cardio so effective. It genuinely works.
- What are you unable to do with fasted cardio?
One thing NOT to do are HIIT workouts in a fasted state. With an intense workout like HIIT, your body will swiftly resort to burning muscle tissue instead of fat.
You will not have the ability to give a good performance throughout your exercises due to the fact that your body feels drained and you simply don’t have the energy. Resistance training on an empty stomach is really not suggested at all.
The only exemption here is if you’re on an intermittent fasting diet and will be consuming your calories immediately after the workout. Intermittent dieting is when you have your meals during a specific timeframe like 12pm – 8p
- Who is fasted cardio for?
Fasted cardio moves you into a more active way of living while still burning fats without the agony. The best type of fasted cardio is a 20 to 45-minute walk at a pace that’s brisk, where you still have the ability to hold a conversation.
Fasted cardio is excellent for those just getting back into exercising or for those beginning their weight loss journey, because your diet will be at a calorie deficiency and you’ll still drop the weight without an extreme workout. Many people who are not used to exercising will like this idea of cardio due to the fact that it’s a simpler way to begin your cardio routine while still seeing results from their efforts. The results will be slower, but they will come.
As the weight comes off and you get fitter, you’ll gradually be able to replace the longer fasted cardio sessions with high intensity cardio sessions that are shorter in duration which should be done an hour or two after a light meal.
High intensity cardio sessions will leave your body burning fat for 8 to 12 hours after the exercising. So, despite them being shorter in duration, you’ll burn more fat overall.
Use fasted cardio to ease yourself into a cardio routine and from there you can easily adapt to more challenging workouts routines. Fasted cardio is a way to educate yourself to love working out and stick to it by losing the weight and getting stronger without dreading the exercise or hitting a plateau.
